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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Has Covid stopped young people from knowing how to dress for an occasion?

143 replies

BananaCaramel · 27/07/2025 18:29

I see it all the time - so many young people don’t make the effort to look nice anymore. Not for weddings, birthdays, other celebratory occasions, it seems to be a “thing” to look like you have made no effort at all.

Is it a Covid thing? They missed a formative period of going out and now they don’t know how to dress for an occasion? That’s all I can think of.

It’s not even about fashions changing eg., people don’t really wear heels anymore, it’s that they literally turn up to events in clothes I would clean my bathroom in.

I think it’s a real shame to be honest!

OP posts:
ninjahamster · 27/07/2025 18:31

My children (in their twenties) all dress up for occasions.

I think as a whole nation we are less formal these days though. I only ever wear trainers for example.

Original poster
BananaCaramel · 27/07/2025 18:32

@ninjahamster interesting - but I don’t think it’s about that so much, trainers can still look smart and stylish. It’s the general scruffiness I see in some young people.

OP posts:
BellissimoGecko · 27/07/2025 18:34

Hmm, that’s not my experience. My dc and their friends love to dress up for special occasions.

Danikm151 · 27/07/2025 18:34

If i wear a dress and heels to go out now I feel over dressed!
yet pre covid you couldn’t go into a club if you were wearing trainers.

CatKings · 27/07/2025 18:35

I think not being able to actually shop makes such a difference.
you can’t go see and feel the clothes, try them on. Your friends aren’t there to make suggestions. You get charged for sending things back. The quality of clothes is shit.

Theres also so few opportunities to dress up. People don’t dress up for work. There’s hardly any nightclubs.

I was maybe going to a wedding soon (I’ve bowed out) and I had zero idea where I would have gotten something to wear. I’ve also not worn heels in years.

.

NormasArse · 27/07/2025 18:35

I’m 59 and really can’t be faffed with dressing up. It started during Covid, and now I feel liberated.

arethereanyleftatall · 27/07/2025 18:36

i can talk for the other side. For years, I was uncomfortable. Underwired bras, heels, tight waists. At many a formal occasion I just wanted to go home and get in to my comfy clothes. And then covid/realisation of how ND so many people are. And I’m thrilled to bits we don’t have to be uncomfortable all the time any more.

tripleginandtonic · 27/07/2025 18:36

Yoy can't blame Covid for everything. It was a year. Yabu.

AbzMoz · 27/07/2025 18:36

I don’t think it’s scruffiness per se, but definitely a different sort of fashion. Some of the tshirts etc are more expensive than a dress would be for example, so it’s a different way to make a ‘statement.’

and I for one am pleased that people are switching off from v harmful heels - lots of significant issues caused from poorly supportive footwear.

MauraLabingi · 27/07/2025 18:36

I suppose why should they dress in fancy clothes if they don't want to?
There are many reasons for dressing in different ways. The main ones are modesty and temperature control.
Comfort is important, but scruffy clothes usually nail that.

The factors you seem interested in are dressing to attract other people (whether friends or romantically), and perhaps showing off financial value/social status with fancy clothing (even if it's not expensive).

It's fine if those factors are important to you. But they don't matter to everyone, and people who don't want to impress with their clothing are hardly to be scorned!

Original poster
BananaCaramel · 27/07/2025 18:36

BellissimoGecko · 27/07/2025 18:34

Hmm, that’s not my experience. My dc and their friends love to dress up for special occasions.

There was a 23 year old at an engagement celebration I went to wearing the sort of all in one body suit you wear to do an aerobics class - I could literally see her camel toe!

OP posts:
OverlyFragrant · 27/07/2025 18:36

I think so.
But it's not just young people, it's all generations. I had reason to go to a funeral a few months ago. Some of us were in formal funeral attire, others in black jeans and shirt which I thought was fine, and others, blue jeans and scruffy t shirts that weren't even ironed.
I would never!

Lollylolo · 27/07/2025 18:36

I get what you mean about the younger generation OP. I'm just hitting forty and anyone in their late teens/early 20s now seems to not make an effort, there seems to be a real trend to super casual and almost 90s grunge look no matter what you are doing or where you are going.

However, just last year went to a 2 star restaurant in a very swanky venue and there were a couple in their 60s next to us having the tasting menu and wine flight in scruffy hiking gear (I will add this was in Birmingham city centre so not like they hiked to the restaurant!). So not just the younger generation.

Original poster
BananaCaramel · 27/07/2025 18:39

I suppose the thing with it is to me when they turn up looking intentionally scruffy it sends a message that they don’t really care about the occasion they are at

OP posts:
Sidebeforeself · 27/07/2025 18:41

I went to a funeral not so long ago and I was really saddened to see how scruffy most of the younger people were. I know you don’t have to be head to toe black these days but it was t that. Scruffy T-shirts , ripped jeans, mini dresses. I thought it sad that they didn’t see the mark of respect that is dressing smartly at a funeral

SriouslyWhutNow · 27/07/2025 18:43

I think it's less Covid and more that their parents' generation are the ones who keep saying "no it's fine, wear what YOU want, be comfortable at all costs". You see it all over style and beauty, getting in the way of people who actually care how they look having conversations about it. I'd imagine they've indoctrinated their kids with it too. It's almost competitive down-dressing and I think it's come from the parents who seem almost proud of their young scruffs.
Who cares about decorum, sense of occasion, or looking nice, eh?

BlueJuniper94 · 27/07/2025 18:45

It was happening before covid

manicpixieschemegirl · 27/07/2025 18:46

YANBU but it’s not just young people.

BellissimoGecko · 27/07/2025 19:22

BananaCaramel · 27/07/2025 18:36

There was a 23 year old at an engagement celebration I went to wearing the sort of all in one body suit you wear to do an aerobics class - I could literally see her camel toe!

Show quote history

Unusual. Dd and her friends would wear a dress and heels, with make-up, nails done, hair straightened, fake tan…

ByLimeJoker · 27/07/2025 19:30

But they do know how to dress, because that's their style and the style of the places they will be going to. And these things change. And they get less and less formal with every generation.

If yours style is a bit old fashioned it's not their fault, and thank fuck high heels are on their way out. Anything that destroys a woman's foot for fashion should never exist in 2025.

If they spend too much time on their clothes, or then dictate a theme for their friends, so they know what to wear they will get called bride Zilla or say it's for Instagram.

No winning.

What is the point of wearing clothes that aren't comfortable and don't make you feel good?

MauraLabingi · 27/07/2025 19:30

BananaCaramel · 27/07/2025 18:39

I suppose the thing with it is to me when they turn up looking intentionally scruffy it sends a message that they don’t really care about the occasion they are at

I think that's only true if your social conditioning/ cultural norms suggest that the way to show you care is to wear fancy clothing. But cultural norms evolve over time.
Logically, a better way to show you care about (eg) a wedding/marriage, would be to get a really thoughtful gift for their new life together, to make sure you talk to the couple and tell them how happy you are for them, and to enthusiastically join in with all the wedding day activities!

ShesTheAlbatross · 27/07/2025 19:32

But is it maybe the case that every generation looks at the younger ones and thinks “why do they dress like that???”

ByLimeJoker · 27/07/2025 19:32

SriouslyWhutNow · 27/07/2025 18:43

I think it's less Covid and more that their parents' generation are the ones who keep saying "no it's fine, wear what YOU want, be comfortable at all costs". You see it all over style and beauty, getting in the way of people who actually care how they look having conversations about it. I'd imagine they've indoctrinated their kids with it too. It's almost competitive down-dressing and I think it's come from the parents who seem almost proud of their young scruffs.
Who cares about decorum, sense of occasion, or looking nice, eh?

Why should someone care about looking nice over feeling comfortable?

What is wrong with you that you'd like a guest of yours to feel uncomfortable so that you can look at their outfits and decide it's enough for a sense of occasion?

ByLimeJoker · 27/07/2025 19:33

ShesTheAlbatross · 27/07/2025 19:32

But is it maybe the case that every generation looks at the younger ones and thinks “why do they dress like that???”

Absolutely, and if you look back every generation is less and less formal. So this isn't even an original complaint.

Comefromaway · 27/07/2025 19:35

I think cost also plays a factor. There are less occasions to dress up & my kids for example can’t justify shelling out for an outfit they may only wear a couple of times. Clothes have become more expensive yet quality has declined.

Also there are so few physical shops. It’s much harder to shop for something out of your usual style/comfort zone if you can only order online.